Rodney Chatman has spent a lot of time studying Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook.
He may have to be that type of player for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga this season.
The sophomore has been one of two players repeatedly referred to as leaders for the senior-less Mocs as they inch closer to their exhibition opener against Francis Marion on Nov. 4. Chatman averaged 7.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists in three starts last season, up from season averages of 5.3 points, 2.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Now the 6-foot-1, 175-pounder is the lone point guard on the roster, which means – much like Westbrook, the 2016-17 NBA Most Valuable Player – that Chatman could be logging heavy minutes per game.
“He kept pushing, kept going hard,” Chatman said. “OKC ended up winning a lot of games. People didn’t expect them to win that many, but with the point guard that Westbrook was, he helped them a lot.”
During a recent practice an observer noted that during drills coach Lamont Paris would go straight to Chatman for instruction after stoppages, then talk to other players.
“Rodney’s really competitive,” Paris said. “He wants to win and is a good teammate. He’s learning and developing as a leader, as are some other guys. It’s hard when you had such a senior-laden team like last year for any of these guys to have been in a leadership role. They weren’t, so they’re all developing in that role.
“His decision-making is improving. It was pretty good, but it is improving. Overall, I’ve been pleased with how he competes and listens. His instincts are good, too.”
Paris expects his point guards to be great leaders who don’t “flinch in the moment” in making decisions with the ball, which is what has led to the extra attention to detail he’s been giving his primary ball-handler.
Chatman said the additional attention doesn’t add any pressure.
“I consider it being coachable,” Chatman said. “It’s wanting to be coached, and with him doing that other guys see that it’s not just them. I’m also the one, a leader getting just as much attention as they get. It’s a good thing.”
He said the biggest thing he’s learned from year one to year two at UTC has been in being prepared for practice, every day.
“Before practice I just try to think about things I did last year before practice and how I didn’t prepare for practice,” he said. “I’m telling the freshmen that you’ve got to get yourself going: You’re going to make mistakes regardless, so keep playing through it. I know it’s hard for them, but you’ve got to keep pushing.”
After being a freshman on a senior-loaded squad, Chatman is one of two sophomores on a team that will start the season with three juniors and six freshmen. That does not count junior Fairfield transfer Jerry Johnson, who is ineligible this season.
After the Mocs were Southern Conference favorites a year ago, Chatman knows the expectations won’t be nearly as high this season, but he’s perfectly fine with that.
“Having the flip of seniors to freshmen, people don’t expect us to win, but that gives us the upper hand because we expect to win,” Chatman said. “Teams might come out and think that since we’ve got freshmen, they’ll play lazy, but Coach Lamont preaches discipline, so if we’re disciplined, solid and stick to our game plan, we can win.”
Scrimmage update
The open-to-the-public Blue-Gold scrimmage, originally scheduled for Thursday, was postponed until Oct. 30 with an “expanded program planned,” according to a UTC release.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.